


Victory

by BanSW



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Sometimes kids are mean, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 06:11:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16781221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BanSW/pseuds/BanSW
Summary: Three times Poe won, and one time Jacen did.





	Victory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ambiguously](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/gifts).



_First Time: Four_

Jacen _hated_ being a stormtrooper.

Uncle Zeb told him last week that, yes, the Empire was bad, but that didn’t mean everyone in it was evil. People, he said, were the sum of their choices, and that it was possible to be brave and generous and kind, no matter where you come from. He’d been looking at Uncle Alex with big, soft eyes when he said it, and then Mama had come home and they all had dinner before his uncles had to fly home to Lira San.

Sure, maybe not all imperials were bad, Jacen thought, but Poe _always_ made him be a stormtrooper. Jacen hated wearing a mop bucket on his head and huddling together with the smallest kids while Poe and his band of ‘rebels’ snuck around and pelted them with rocks and sticks.

Mama sent him over to Miss Shara’s house almost every day, so she could have some peace while she sat in front of the holocom, talking quietly with someone called _Chandrilla_ , and every time Poe wanted to play ‘Rebels and Stormtroopers.’ Iolo and Riyo and Jess always agreed, and so Poe ignored Jacen's pleas to play something, _anything_ , else.

But not today.

“What's the matter Jace?” Poe asked, with a hint of a laugh in his voice as he regarded Jacen's green-flushed cheeks and trembling fists.

“I don't want to play a kriffing stormtrooper anymore!”

Poe's eyes widened and he shot a glance at Miss Shara, who was looking tired and a little dazed from where she was watching them from the shade. Jacen knew that Mama would be _so mad_ at Uncle Zeb for teaching him that word.

“How ‘bout we play Lizard, Toad, Snake, and if you win, we'll play whatever you want,” Poe offered, waving at his mother with a broad grin.

That seemed reasonable, so Jacen nodded.

“Great! Close your eyes,” Poe said, and he counted them down when Jacen did.

Snake ate Toad, and so Jacen was stuck playing a stormtrooper again. Poe and his friends were even rougher than usual with their sticks and rocks.

It didn't occur to Jacen until much later, as he was washing his hands for supper, that _Poe_ hadn't closed his eyes.

\---------

_Second Time: Eleven_

“Want to make this interesting?” Poe asked from where he was stretching his legs on the the duracrete.

It was the first full day of sunshine after Yavin IV made its rotation of the gas giant, and that meant it was field day, the entire school pouring out onto the field in a wave of giggles and restless energy.

As the best sprinters in their class, Jacen and Poe got picked to compete in one of the races. Whoever won got a medal, their name on the wall by the office, and to pick the lunch menu for one day next month. Surely that was interesting enough.

“What do you mean?”

“The winner gets to ask Riyo to the Equinox Dance,” Poe said, beaming.

Jacen didn't really want to go to the dance, but Riyo was really pretty and really smart. She probably wouldn't hang out with Jacen if he wasn't friends with Poe.

Jacen looked down at Poe's long tan legs and remembered just how quickly they could cover the pavement. Jacen knew that he couldn't outrun Poe, but now, looking at Poe's legs, he felt a hot stab of _want_ in his guts that made him want to try.

He didn't win, but that was okay. He hadn't even wanted to go to the dance until Poe mentioned it. Jacen told himself that it was fine, even as a weird, hot rush of jealousy flooded his guts when he saw Poe talking to Riyo, after.

It was okay.

It _was_.

\---------

_Third Time: Sixteen_

This was it: graduation. Long years of simulator training, and physical training, and diplomacy training and kriffing maths training had led them here, to an impossibly muggy day on the lawn in front of the recently renovated Yavin Academy, listening to a representative from the Senate go on and on about pride and hope and the future.

Poe had bet Jacen ten credits that they'd both get their first choice of New Republic Flight Academy, the one on Hosnian Prime. That seemed unlikely, but Jacen held his breath as the school's headmistress read out everyone's name and which academy or university they had been accepted to. He didn't really want to win, didn't want to imagine a life on the other side of the galaxy without the familiar comfort of Poe by his side.

Poe must've had inside information, but Jacen couldn't even bring himself to be mad. He felt hot all over when Poe laughed and threw his arms around him after the commencement.

\---------

_First Time: Twenty Two_

After Hosnian Prime, Jacen and Poe had parted ways. They still commed every so often, but mostly they were focused on building their own careers and lives.

It was a surprise, then, to see a message from Poe saying that he would be planetside next week and that they should go for drinks.

They met in a tiny pub just off the base on Gatalenta, where a smiling old woman served then big bowls of noodles and tiny cups of warm, spicy wine.

Well into their cups but the time they staggered back to the barracks, Poe asked: “So, have you found yourself a boyfriend, yet?”

Jacen felt flushed when he shook his head, leaning against the wall of Poe's guest quarters.

Poe chuckled, peeling off his flight jacket and collapsing on the bunk. Jacen's eyes followed the movement as he stretched and settled his arms behind his head.

“Heh, bet you haven't even kissed anyone since Saif,” Poe said.

Saif had been their third roommate at Hosnian Academy, and Jacen's first everything. They'd parted amicably after graduation and still talked every couple of weeks.

Poe lit up, like he had a brilliant idea.

“Hey Jace, c'mere,” he slurred patting the bed beside him. Jacen sat, a little unsteadily. “Let's play Lizard, Toad, Snake.”

“Why?”

“Because if I win, I get to kiss you,” Poe said, as if that was a perfectly logical conclusion.

Jacen's face burned, and he was suddenly glad that he was sitting down.

“Alright,” Jacen said, surprising himself, “Close your eyes.”

Poe did, raising a fist for the game. Jacen counted them down, slowly, and didn't even see what sign Poe had chosen before he was leaning in and pressing their lips together.

Poe made a surprised noise against his mouth before clasping a hand to the back of Jacen's neck and parting his lips to slide their tongues together.

It was sloppy, with the wine they had drunk and the awkward angle. Poe tasted spicy, like the wine and the noodles and the cigarras he swore he didn't smoke.

He tasted like victory.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know Chandrilla is not a person. I have a very distinct memory of being four years old and hearing my father say that he had to take a call from Beijing and wondering who that was. Shout out to unintentionally funny kids who don't quite get things.
> 
> Hope you like it!


End file.
